Workers upgrading safety features, repairing damage to water tower

One of Midland's tallest residents will be safer to work with after some upgrades are made.

Workers have spent the last two weeks renovating the tower, located at Jefferson Avenue and Nelson Street, bringing it up to Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards.

Standing 150-plus feet tall and holding 500,000 gallons of water, the tower hasn't been recoated in 10 years and the interior hasn't been painted in 25, the expected span for such repairs, said Dave Love, water department superintendent.

The work is designed to extend the life of the metal work and the tank.

"We're in the process of doing some upgrades and some repairs in the metal work," Love said. "There was some wear and some rusting in certain locations."

Renovations include replacing the interior ladders, installing a rail on the top of the tower, adding rings for painters and cleaners to clip safety ropes to and replacing vents on the roof.

Then, in April, workers will recoat the outside of the tower and then blast and repaint the inside.

Maguire Iron of Sioux Falls, S.D., is working on the project. Maguire won the bid last November at a cost of $182,500. Money for the project is coming out of the water fund.

While work is being done, residents in the northeast pressure district shouldn't notice any difference in their service. In an outage or in peak usage times, there are other back-up systems in place.

"We've got another tank in the system and the new pump station has a back-up system," said Love, referring to the Plymouth Street tower and the northeast district pump station.